


Aging Flowers

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, Temporary Character Death, Vampire Lance (Voltron), Vampires, reuniting with family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 08:07:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16719573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Vampire AU where the team doesn't know that Lance is a vampire as well. They also don't know how deep their connections ran, but they were about to find out.





	Aging Flowers

**Prologue**

Earth wasn’t the place that it once was. There was a time when vampires hid who they were, out of fear for their safety. That time’s long since passed and they became a part of society. Many high ranking people were vampires and it was discovered quickly that the two races worked very well together; with that discovery came learning. Vampires knew pretty much everything there was to know about humans, but the same couldn’t be said about humans.

One of the first things they asked about was the flowers that decorated every vampires’ skin. Unbeknownst to them, the flowers were much more important then they realized. The placement of the flowers represented whether you were born or turned. Born vampires had flowers adorning their foreheads, like a flower crown; these flowers were passed down from their families. Turned vampires had flowers flowing from the place they were bitten; their flowers represented the person who turned them.

The other thing was that the more flowers you have, the longer you’ve lived. Born vampires aged and died similarly to humans, while turned vampires could look young for the rest of their lives, however long that might be.

* * *

The first time he laid his eyes on the four of them, he almost had a heart attack; he might’ve if he still had a beating heart. The only thing that differed from the people he once knew were the flowers that wrapped around their foreheads.

He took every precaution to cover up as much as possible even though it sucked to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath a jacket or wear denim jeans through the summer months. He couldn’t let them know about the matching flowers he had scattered across his skin.

At first, it was because he didn’t really know them. Then he, Hunk, and Pidge were grouped together as a team. He was worried for a little bit but then they asked him;

“You don’t mind that we’re vampires right?”

He shook his head and they never talked about it again.

There were times when he wanted to bring it up with them but instead he felt a lump form in his throat; like he didn’t want them to know what had happened to him. Not even when they became a team did he want them to know how deep their connections really ran.

In the end, it wasn’t really up to him.

After most successful battles, the leader or council of the planet they saved would throw a party or something of that nature for the paladins to relax and recharge. They would talk about possibly joining the coalition and generally just get to know the citizens. This was routine. This was normal. But as they’d come to learn, when they stepped out of their lions, it wasn’t always the end of the battle.

At first, everything seemed peaceful, they were able to change back into their casual clothes and join the party with Allura and Coran. Many came up to them to thank them for their bravery and for saving their homes. Lance was talking with some of the children, regaling them with tales of their previous missions. If he was human, he would have never heard the slow crunch of leaves behind them, further in the thicket.

“Why don’t you ask Hunk about that one, he’d know much more than me,” he said quickly pointing them in the direction of Hunk. They gave him a quick smile and raced over to the yellow paladin. Even if he didn’t know why they were there, he was quick to greet them. Lance, on the other hand, turned toward the trees and bushes. He half expected another Venetan to walk out of the forest but he wasn’t completely sure.

All he heard was a single snap of teeth before he was consumed in pain.

He let out a blood-curdling shriek as he was lifted into the air by a pair of monstrous jaws. The creature took a cruel moment to shake it’s head, a sharp crack filling the air before tossing Lance away. He laid unmoving on the ground, no breathing, no twitching. The creature turned towards the group, Lance’s torn jacket hanging from its bottom teeth and let out a chilling snarl.

“LANCE!” Hunk screamed, he backed away slightly, the children hiding behind his legs. He quickly scooped them up and bolted away closer to the rest of the group. Pidge, Keith, and Shiro were standing in front of the crowd protectively. They looked helplessly at Lance’s limp form, already covered in blood and the creature that was stalking towards them. It lifted it’s head back and let out a loud, echoing howl.

It was a signal.

All at once, their ears picked up the sound of marching. They were coming through the trees, hundreds of them.

“GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!” Shiro commanded loudly to the people behind them. They didn’t hesitate and they took off just as the Galra forces crashed through the brush. They lost sight of Lance instantly, seemingly trampled under the soldier’s feet. They stood ready, waiting as the enemy drew closer.

“Allura, Coran, go with them,” Shiro demanded, turning to face them.

“No, you haven’t fought them this way before, we must get the lions,” she argued. Shiro shook his head, glaring at the marching soldiers.

“We can’t abandon this fight, they took one of our own. They. Will. Pay,” he spat.

“You don’t have your armour or your bayards! How do you expect to fight them? They’re cruel and bloodthirsty, they won’t stop even if you can’t defend yourself! They’re nothing you’ve ever fought!” She tried, desperate.

“Maybe so,” he hummed, his eyes closed. “But they’ve never fought vampires either,”

He opened his eyes and looked down at Allura. As expected she and Coran took a quick step backwards. His blood-red eyes stared down at her, resolute in his decision. She looked around, the rest of them stared forward with gleaming eyes, no hesitation in their stances.

“Very well, we’ll see to the citizens’ safety,” with that, they turned and followed in the aliens’ footsteps. Thunder rumbled above them and the sky broke releasing torrents of rain upon them. The Galra let out a unified yell and started charging, their guns held high.

Shiro tilted his head back, letting the raindrops roll down his face. “For Lance,” he stated quietly; they nodded their heads and they were off. They tore through the enemy ranks, blood raining down alongside the water.

They screamed their sorrow out as they clawed through soldier after soldier, tears hidden by the rain.

_It’s all he wanted. He missed the rain so much._

They lost track of the number they killed and they lost track of the beast.

“SHIRO LOOK OUT!” Keith screamed, eyes wide and terrified. Shiro only had time to turn around before the creature pounced. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that at least his death would be swift and painless. But there was nothing but the rain pelting his face. All around him was silence. As if the battle stopped just to watch him.

He hesitantly opened his eyes and he realized that they were never looking at him.

“Lance?” He gasped quietly.

The paladin stood on top of the whimpering beast’s back, glaring down at it with blood red eyes. Before either of them could say anything else, the beast snapped its teeth at Lance’s leg forcing him to jump away.

It was like he was dancing through the air instead of fighting. Every dodge and strike looked like it was planned with the grace he took executing it. The beast roared out in pain as Lance struck it to the ground with ease. It looked up at him with wide eyes, seeing only the blank, red stare on Lance’s face before everything went black.

Lance took his foot off the creature’s neck and looked back at his fighting team. Without hesitation, he joined the fray.

They lost track of time; the battle could have taken minutes. It could have been hours. When their enemies were finally finished, they looked over at Lance. He, just like them, was covered in blood and soaked to the bone. He only said one thing:

“Meet me in the lounge,” before walking away.

* * *

Just like he promised, he was waiting in the lounge but instead of his usual pyjama and robe combo, he wore a pair of shorts and a tank top. They could only gape at the flowers that covered his arms, legs, and back, crawling up the back of his neck.

He gestured to the couches and they silently sat down and watched Lance, waiting for him to start his story.

His eyes were closed and he took a deep breath before starting.

* * *

**Lance P.O.V.**

When I was seventeen. Well, seventeen for the first time; vampires weren’t readily accepted in society as they are now. They were feared and hated. I never really knew why, but that was only because I’d never seen any before. I’d heard all the legends and warnings but I never thought that anything would happen to me or my family.

I met your guy’s family that way, Akira, Thomas, Jonathan, and Luke were all my brother James’ friends. They were over all the time and I started seeing them as my brothers too.

Oh God, I miss them so much.

I thought that it would be just like any other day; I got up early since I was the youngest and always got the short end of the stick, and I’d go into town to get stuff for breakfast. There was nothing that told me otherwise, there wasn’t anything that made me think I’d end up alone. But, when I got back, the door to the house was open a-and, there was blood. Everywhere. I couldn’t look anywhere without seeing blood and mama and papa were just… laying there. I didn’t even have time to think before someone grabbed me out of the doorway.

I looked over my shoulder and it was James. Immediately I teared up and leaned into his shoulder to cry. I didn’t even notice the blood all over his clothes. But I did feel his claws sinking into my skin, only a second before his teeth ripped into my arm.

I don’t know if it was the shock from seeing my parents dead, or the overwhelming pain of the bite but I blacked out. When I came to, I was surrounded and I was in so much pain, everywhere hurt. I couldn’t see much because it was night but I could see five sets of glowing red eyes, and I just knew it was all of my brother’s friends. They’d gone into a blood frenzy, and my family was the victims.

I don’t know how long they had me, it could have been hours, or days, or weeks, I just knew that I was terrified. I tried to talk to them, make them see what they were doing but it wasn’t enough. With every bite, I felt myself slipping just a tiny bit more. I didn’t even realize what that meant until they bit me one more time.

For some reason, it didn’t hurt as much as it had before. There was still the sting as their fangs sunk into my skin but as soon as it happened, everything was fuzzy. Everything was going numb and dark.

“Lance?” James quietly called out to me. I hadn’t heard his voice in so long or what felt like so long. With the strength I had, I turned my head to look at him. He was crying. All of them were crying and the red hue in their eyes were finally gone.

“James,” I cried weakly, my face splitting in a smile. I tried to reach out for him but I couldn’t. I was so weak, it took everything just to stay awake. He picked me up and laid me across his lap as he used to when I was a little kid.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry Lance,” he wept, his eyes squeezing shut. I knew it wasn’t his fault what happened, he went through a frenzy, most turned vampires do. But he wasn’t going to readily accept that.

Because I knew I was gonna die.

“It’s okay J,” I said weakly, my hand shaking in his grip. I tried to keep smiling but I was so scared, I didn’t know what was gonna happen to me. I didn’t know if they were ever gonna find me because I wanted James and everyone to get out of there before someone found us.

“No, it’s not! It’s not okay Lance!” James screamed, his eyes wide and tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked manic and I couldn’t blame him. He’d been through so much, they all had and I was about to make it worse.

“Get out of here,” I said quietly. James blinked in confusion, he looked at me like I was crazy.

“What?”

“Get. Out. Of. Here.” I replied sternly, looking up at him. “I don’t want you to be caught, I want you to live,”

“B-but L-lance I can’t leave you here,” he tried to argue, shaking his head.

“You’re gonna have to I-”

“No, I won’t do it!”

“James-”

“There’s nothing you can say that’ll make me-”

“I’m gonna die, James!” I finally yelled, mustering up the rest of my energy. “There’s nothing left for me, all I want is for you to be safe,” I shuddered and closed my eyes for a second.

“Please,”

He sniffed, pain written across his face as he nodded his head and leaned his forehead against mine.

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll be safe, I promise,”

Everything after that was a blur. I was still there… somehow. But it’s like I wasn’t really seeing anything but I could hear. There was a lot of crying, I heard James calling my name, begging me to come back but I couldn’t. Someone hugged me tightly to their chest but I couldn’t hug back. I couldn’t respond to anything.

Is this what dying is?

I asked myself over and over again as if I’d forgotten what I was asking in the first place. I could never get to the answer though; I didn’t know what dying felt like but if I had to guess, that would’ve been it. It went black after that. There was nothing then, it was just like I fell asleep but I didn’t dream.

Then I woke up exactly where I was before but there was no one there. I was covered in blood but it looked so old, I would’ve guessed that it might have been from a few hours earlier but it was almost black.

I didn’t know what to do. There was nowhere for me to go; mama and papa were dead and I didn’t know where James went. So I went out on my own and started surviving.

For whatever reason, I didn’t go through a blood frenzy or at least I don’t remember going through a blood frenzy. Which I was thankful for but it was hard being by myself. Sometimes I just didn’t want to be alive; I missed my family, there wasn’t much for me to do but survive. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew my brother and his friends were out there somewhere. Maybe they were killed by the few hunters that still existed then but I always hoped and prayed that they were still alive and maybe they thought about me from time to time. And that was enough for me.

* * *

“I was too scared to try and join society until I knew it was completely safe for me. It’s when I joined the Garrison and I found you guys. I’m sorry that I didn’t come clean sooner but it was just so hard for me,”

“Honestly, I wish you had told us sooner,” Shiro said, crossing his arms. Lance sighed and nodded his head, looking at the ground. No matter how much older he was than Shiro, he still wasn’t immune to the disappointed brother stare.

“I know,” he said quietly, clutching his hands in front of himself.

“We could’ve brought you home,” Keith said, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance’s head whipped around to look at him.

“What?”

“Everyone you mentioned is part of our coven,” Pidge explained with a smile. His mouth dropped open before he shook his head.

“There’s no way in hell that I could be this lucky, you’re kidding me,” he said quietly in awe.

“Come on, did you really think it was that much of a coincidence?” Keith asked with a small smirk.

“Trust me, living as long as I have, you run into your fair share,” he huffed looking down at the ground.

“How old are you anyway?” Pidge asked, her brows scrunched.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you, I was never able to keep track of the years,” he answered, shaking his head.

“Well, your family will be able to tell you anyway,” Shiro said cheerfully, slapping Lance of the back with a smile.

“Yeah,” Lance said with a faint smile.

* * *

He couldn’t stop the excited jitters in his legs as they got closer and closer to the coven. He tried sticking his hands under his thighs but that didn’t last too long. Everyone was looking at him knowingly with smiles on their faces. 

It seemed like way too quickly before they were stopping on a gigantic farm, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There was already a crowd gathered by the vehicle, just waiting for them to climb out. 

They were ambushed as soon as they got out of the vehicle. They were squished in hugs, tears rolling down their cheeks in relief.

“We were so worried!” Rosa exclaimed pulling back from the group hug to examine the teens.

“Well, we have one more surprise for you guys,” Pidge said, smirking over at the rest of the team. They pushed against the group, leading them away from the car so Lance could get out. There was dead silence as he stepped out and stood in front of his family.

“Lance?” His mama asked shakily, her hand reaching out towards him. Her hand was trembling and her eyes looked so unsure. He knew the feeling far too well; the number of times he thought he saw his family when he was alone was countless.

“Mama,” he breathed out in disbelief. When his team talked about their coven, it wasn’t like he thought they were lying. It’s just… being there was so surreal. He’d thought about it a million times, but he never thought he’d actually be there.

“MAMA!” He cried again running forward and flinging himself into her arms. She cuddled him to her chest, tears already soaking the top of his head. He felt strong arms envelop the two of them and looked up to see his papa’s tearful eyes looking down at him. A wobbling smile stretched across his face and a small sob escaped his throat.

“You look just the same as the day I lost you,” Rosa said, cupping his face gently and rubbing the tears away from his cheeks with her thumbs.

“You too,” he breathed out, almost in amazement. He still couldn’t believe it, even as his papa rubbed his hand up and down his back in comfort. He looked around at the family that surrounded him, many of whom he’d never even met before. But it was still missing some people. He twisted around, propping himself up on his tiptoes to look over the crowd. Finally, he saw them, back towards the house, watching him with wide eyes.

“James! Guys!” He yelled excitedly, pushing his way out of the crowd and towards them. There was a big, bright smile on his face but they didn’t look nearly as happy. He slowed down as he realized that they honestly looked… scared of him.

“Guys?” He questioned, finally stopping in front of them. He looked over them strangely.

Finally, James spoke.

“Lance, you’re here,” it came out as a whisper. “You’re alive,”

“Well, yeah! I think you might have missed the last ten minutes there. Are you alright?” He asked with concern, reaching out to lay his hand over James’ forehead, but he flinched back before he was able to.

“Oh,” Lance pulled back, his hand suddenly shaking. He had a pit in his stomach, anxiety quickly crawling through his guts.

Was James upset that he made it? His thoughts were racing through his mind, telling him reason after reason James would have for being upset with him.

“Lance, stop, I know that look,” James said, breaking him out of his own mind by grabbing his shoulders. Lance looked up tears unknowingly on his face.

“Did I do something wrong?” He asked quietly.

“No! Lance of course not!” He said, crushing Lance to his chest. “I just, I’m the one that did this to you,” he whispered in defeat. Lance’s brow twitched in angry and he ripped himself out of his brother’s arms before delivering a devastating punch to his arm with a loud crack. James let out a loud yell, covering it protectively with his hand before looking back at Lance.

“I’ve already forgiven you for that,” he snarled, pointing at him threateningly with a glare; which James returned in kind.

“Yeah! Well, you were bleeding to death! How was I supposed to know you meant it!?”

“I always mean what I say!” Lance argued back, pushing his head into James’ space.

“OH YEAH!?” James growled, pushing Lance’s head back with his own.

“YEAH!”

Everyone else watched the two of them fondly. To some of them, Lance’s presence would be new but to the rest, it was like finally finding a missing puzzle piece.


End file.
